Statement

I express myself in felt, with wool as my medium. What suits me, and what I make, is versatile, layered and expressive—like wool itself. Wool has a story to tell: where it comes from, what creature bore it, who formed it. I combine its story with my own.

My inspiration lies in the here and now. Life and its relationships are my recurring themes: my felt work always contains a personal message. Free expression is so important to me, that I want others interpret my work freely. I invite the viewer to see what he wants in my art. Someone who looks deeply will see more. It’s great when others perceive the subtle humor I work into it. A bit of lightness is so important in these difficult times we live in.

At heart I’m an optimist, and I trust my feelings. I work intuitively. The color and organic movement in my work give it my passionate, extroverted energy. What I have to say depends on my mood. I’m full of contradictions. Optimism may turn to melancholy through what happens around me, and I turn inward. When I’m in an introverted period, I use natural, calm colors and rough wool to express that feeling.

Felting is literally feeling. My hands are my tools. They and my other senses connect with my creativity. My concepts take concrete form by leaving room for what happens during the process of felting. An open mind is essential. The power in the work begins with the properties of the specific variety of wool, sometimes combined with other materials.

My training at the Dutch Felt Academy and my years of knowledge of felting techniques and wool shape my art. Thus I bind the nature of the wool with my ideas. Felting with wool knows almost no restriction: the techniques are limitless and beg for experimentation. Every kind of wool can be transformed into a new structure by friction. I start softly and then exert more strength. If the work needs to be strong and solid, I exert all the needed bodily power to achieve that goal.

“It’s my mission to free the material “felt” from the stigma “craft” and to show that felt is fully an art form.“

“It’s my mission to free the material “felt” from the stigma “craft” and to show that felt is fully an art form.“